handsful

As he does every year, today Randy caught up to MY age.

I married a younger man.  By 5 whole months.

Big daddy and his crew…sounds like a rap band.

And, no, I don’t know why the littles are making those faces.

Main dude and the crazies.

…hurry up and sing so I can eat this delicious chess pie that my wonderful wife made…

He had two pieces.

Happy Birthday, Randy.  I love you more with every year that passes.  :)

Heh. Heh.

Our 6 kids are involved in a program called Acrofitness.  It combines floor acrobatics (and/or dancing) with fitness moves.

Hence, the name.

There are a variety of classes, and all of the kids have found the one that really fits their interests.

Abbey takes hip-hop…Marley is in advanced tumbling (since she’s had years of gymnastics in FL)…Payton and Ethan take a Free Running class (also called Parkour; google that one)…Lainey and Dylan take beginning tumbling.

Last night, Acro had their Fitness Festival.  A recital of sorts, where all the classes did a special routine to show what they’ve learned during the last year.  Combining all of the individual classes with all of the teams (those are audition-based that do about 40 shows during the year at various events), we watched 45 routines.  Abbey’s group was #19, the littles were #26.

The boys and Marley opted out…which was fine, since you’ve gotta purchase the event attire and it ain’t cheap.

The littles being goofy, while we waited for Abbey to get ready to go.

These aren’t great pics, but it’s the best we could do given all the heads in front of us.

Loved their routine…their instructor, Heather, is so good (she’s the dark haired gal in the white suit in the first pic)

Lainey and Dylan both did great…and D loved being in front of that many people.  Ham.

They’re on the right end.

L and D with their fav coach, Mr. Joey.  He’s SO good with them and they adore him.

All the kids will enjoy their summer break, but we’ll all be back at Acro again next year.  Three nights per week.  Flipping, jumping, and dancing.

Last weekend, we…all 8 of us…planted our garden.  This is our 2nd year…last year we planted about 3/4 of it.  This year, the whole shebang.

I have no pictures of the actual planting, you’ll have to take my word for it.  It’s hard to take pictures when you’re hands are covered in wet, red dirt.  Clay, actually.  We live in NC, and dirt “here” is a relative term.  When we lived in Florida, a flimsy spoon is all you really needed to dig a decent hole in the dirt.  Not so here.

Why was it wet?  Halfway through the planting, the rain began.  Most of us stuck to it for a while, but some of us (ahem) went inside until it eased up.  Randy and Abbey get full credit for “all day” planting.

When it was all said and done, we planned the garden (what plants, how many, where in the garden, how many rows, etc.), bought all the plants/seeds, and got it all in the ground in about 6 hours.

Now, we water.  And, wait.  Some of the plants are still trying to get established and look a little wilty.  But, nothing has died yet.

Here are some shots I got as Randy was replacing some sprinkler heads

I know it looks like only dirt, but I promise stuff is there.  Cantaloupe, 4 kinds of peppers, 4 kinds of tomatoes, beans, peas, 12 rows of corn, and cucumbers.

Farmer Randy

Yes, I am that tall…

running from the sprinkler

Forgive my change of subject, but I love having wildflowers on our property

And, this is the field beside us.  They allow it to overgrow, then mow it, put it into rows, spread it out to let it dry, and then bale it up.  This happens over 4 or 5 days.  We’re in the process of purchasing this extra land now, which will bring our acreage to about 19.  So thankful for this place we get to call home.

The day began early for me, since EJ had to be at church by 7:45am.  He plays drums for the middle school worship band every-other Sunday.  And, since Randy struggled with allergies the night before, I let him sleep in a bit.

I’m an amazing woman, aren’t I?

Once home, the rest of us got ready since the first, full TESTIFY concert was at 10:30.  I’ve really been looking forward to this.  The kids and Randy have been working hard, about 4 hours of practice each Sunday, to get ready for this.  Randy has been helping with the acting practices, since he wrote the play.  Abbey dances, sings in an ensemble, and acts; Marley sings a duet/solo, Payton dances and acts, Ethan sings a duet/solo.  The kids share acting parts, so they don’t always act in each concert…none of the kids acted yesterday.  But, Marley was singing her usual duet as a solo since her partner was out of town.  My daughter who is SO like me, and would rather the attention be on anyone other than her, was going to sing a solo.  Courage!  It helps that she absolutely loves to sing.

The concert was incredible, they did an amazing job!  Let me share a God moment…

One of the main characters in the play is a bully.  You don’t know it at first, but you find out that he’s very anti-God because he lost his mom to cancer when he was 15.  His father initially became angry, blaming God for taking her away.  He drank and the situation became too much for the son, who moved in with family.  Later on, the father stops drinking and eventually becomes a Christian, but the son…still too mad at God for taking his mom…wants nothing to do with his “religious” father.

After the play, a man came up to Randy, having heard he wrote the play.  He said, “You won’t believe this, but…” and begins to tell Randy that he lost his wife to cancer when his son was a teenager.  He became an alcoholic.  His son moved out and, to this day won’t have anything to do with him.  The father has since become a Christian.  He was in tears, Randy was trying to hold his back.  The man told Randy that he was going home to call his son, and ask if he’d come to a future concert with him.

God works, people.  He’s alive, and uses us in ways we’d never dream of, to further his plans and purposes.  I’m in awe!

So, that was the morning.  Pretty good, eh?  We came home to meet up with EJ (who had gotten a ride home from church), took a few hundred pictures to get a couple of good ones (heh), and then went to one of my favorite restaurants for a late lunch.  We ate too much.  But, it was yummy.

Oh, and they gave me a zebra print tote bag (from our church’s Marketplace store…we sell things made by women in impoverished countries and the money goes back to them, giving them a way to earn a living and support their families!), and a book that I can’t wait to start.  Score one for Randy.

Back home, Randy switched out sprinkler heads while Marley and I hoed around the plants in our newly planted garden.  I’ll blog about that next.

We spent the rest of the night watching old videos while Randy attempted to get them put onto DVD’s.  We have video from 2009 to present on our camera.  Not good.  He’s still tweaking the best way to do it.  Why can’t anything involving a computer be easy?!?

A great back massage later, and I was in bed for the night.

I’m blessed to have such a wonderful husband who spoils me and makes me feel so special, and 6 kids to get hugs and “Happy Mother’s Day” greetings from.  I think back to our infertility treatment days, when we weren’t sure we’d have ANY children….I still remember that sad feeling for the other women who so desperately want to be moms on this day.  It’s such a hard day for those not on this side of the fence.  I wish everyone who wants to be a mom, could be.

Mother’s Day 2013 was wonderful.

Last Sunday was Cinco de Mayo.  We have zero Mexican heritage, but we “celebrate” it anyway.  Well, we use it as a good excuse to have Mexican food for dinner.  So, even though Sundays are nuts around here with church and then 4 hours of youth choir practice (first concert this Sunday!), I still pulled together a big taco and tortilla bar.  It was delish.

And, because we wanted the celebration to continue just a wee bit longer, I found this fun dessert online and decided to give it a try.  We loved it so much, I made them again tonight.

This is complicated, so don’t get lost…

Take a stack of soft tortillas and cut them across in 1/4″ strips, and then the other way down the middle once.

Heat a deep pot of oil on medium-medium high heat.  We were somewhere in the middle of the two.

Dump about 5 in the oil, and watch them sizzle.  If they don’t sizzle a lot, your oil isn’t hot enough.

Using a hand strainer, stir and flip till they’re nice and golden brown.  It took ours maybe 20 seconds each batch.

Take them out and drain on paper towels.  Sprinkle liberally with cinnamon sugar.  It helps to have two working on this at a time…Marley was my cinnamon sugar girl both nights.

They’re so good…reminds me of the twists at Taco B*ll, but more substantial and a little chewier.  I used a different kind of tortilla on Sunday, and they puffed up better than these.

See, I told you it was complicated.  I bet you have tortillas in your fridge right now…you should try these.  Really, you should!

Dylan (the kid with the bottom half of his face covered in cinnamon sugar) dares you…